The pods – on display at Gitex – have been developed in partnership with NEXT Future Transportation, as part of the Dubai Smart Government initiative.

Electric and driverless, the pods can move individually or by attaching themselves to other pods, to form a bus-like structure allowing passengers to move freely from one pod to another.

They are designed to operate as a mass transportation system whereby passengers can be picked up on demand and dropped off to different locations, as the pods link and detach accordingly.

“Our pods are currently in the R&D phase and within a year we will be launching the test phase, whereby fully functional prototypes will be tested in restricted areas,” said Bassel Al Nahloui – VP of Business Development and Government Relations at Careem.

“We have invented the world’s finest autonomous mass transit solution, and as we look to operationalise, we need a partner that will provide operational depth and scale,” added Emmanuele Spera, founder and CEO, NEXT Future Transportation.